US District Judge Audrey G. Fleissig sentenced a couple from St. Louis County for falsely claiming to have provided home care to elderly Medicaid recipients. Qais Meraj, 33, was sentenced to two months in prison, two years of supervised release, a $5,000 fine, and was ordered to repay $45,871. Aziza Meraj, 41, was sentenced to three years of probation including two months of house arrest, a $5,000 fine, and ordered to repay $33,241. She was also ordered to perform 200 hours of community service. Qais and Aziza Meraj admitted defrauding the Missouri Medicaid program MO HealthNet by falsely claiming to have provided personal care services for multiple Medicaid clients from February 2019 to March 2021. As a result, Medicaid was billed for services that were never provided. Qais Meraj admitted being paid $45,871 for services that he had not provided. Aziza Meraj admitted being paid $33,241.
The Merajs worked for different companies during that time as personal care attendants, and were supposed to help clients with meal preparation, grooming, cleaning and managing their medications as a way of keeping those clients out of a nursing home or hospital. The Merajs forged clients’ initials and submitted time sheets that falsely represented that they provided personal care services to one couple when the Merajs were out of the country. When the couple’s failure to help one couple was reported to the Missouri Medicaid Audit and Compliance Office, Aziza Meraj retaliated by impersonating the couple’s daughter and canceling their Medicaid eligibility and food stamps by falsely claiming that they were leaving the country. It took several months to get the benefits restored.